What do I buy now? Essays on consumer response to food labeling

Food labeling has become of increasing interest to both consumers and policy makers. This dissertation consists of three essays analyzing consumer response to several aspects of food labeling. The first essay investigates consumer reactions to changes in information provision regarding organic production. It focuses on the actual implementation of mandatory labeling guidelines under the National Organic Program. Employing household-level scanner data in an initial hedonic price function approach, as well as in simulations within a discrete choice framework suggests that consumers value the change in labeling regulations with regard to organic production. Results also suggest that consumers substitute away from rBGH-free labeled milk, possibly due to decreased media attention to the controversy about the genetically modified growth hormone.;The second essay extends this policy evaluation by focusing on the effects of media coverage in organic food production and the National Organic Program on consumer purchases. Analyses of a unique data set in a difference-in-differences approach suggest average increases in organic milk sales relative to conventional milk sales during weeks for which relevant news coverage is observed. Increases in intensity of news coverage are found to increase the relative difference in sales but at a decreasing rate. Effects further differ depending on category specific content, critical coverage, national versus local paper coverage, and circulation of local papers.;The link between food and health is the focus of the third essay. Food marketers are required to display the Nutrition Facts Panel, but can focus their advertising claims on certain attributes, while shrouding others, and making information less salient. This essay investigates whether these strategies prevent consumers from fully optimizing their purchase decisions with regards to available nutritional information. Categorical nutritional shelf labels are implemented in a market-level experiment and average treatment effects are estimated in a difference-in-differences approach. The results suggest that consumer purchases are affected by those labels. In particular, a label of no trans fat significantly increase sales of targeted products. The results further suggest that consumers might have taste preferences or perceive certain nutrients differently, and that they make limited inferences about unlabeled products and their nutritional quality.